Relief organizations responding to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area are expecting donations of canned food, bottled water, personal hygiene products, blankets, baby formula, kitchen supplies and other necessities in the coming weeks.
They will also receive clothing. Mountains of it.
As aid workers well know, many Americans are eager to donate their used clothes. In the aftermath of natural disasters, the heartfelt desire to assist people in need seems to meet the opportunity to purge one’s closet.
When Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina last fall, causing floods and destroying or damaging more than 70,000 homes, volunteer workers there were in sore need of electric blankets and propane heaters to distribute as cold weather set in. What they often received, by the car and truck load, was used clothes.
“It became truly overwhelming,” said Valentine Reilly, who lives in Boone, N.C., and co-founded State Line Resource Station, a rural distribution center that was up and running days after the storm. “There’s no way we have the manpower to clean, sort and organize into sizes.”
Some items, like new work boots, were needed. Others became a burden: “We’re talking about five or six semis of used clothes,” Ms. Reilly said.
Ms. Reilly had to redirect her volunteers to deal with the influx rather than, say, clearing debris or hauling wood. They sent the discards to large storage units that quickly filled to the ceiling. Eventually, the resource center put up a giant sign: “Please No Used Clothes.” And still the bags came.
Already, there appears to be a glut of clothing donations in response to the California wildfires. Some shelters are not accepting any more items, said Patrick McClenahan, the chief executive of Goodwill Southern California.
To help stem the tide of unwanted goods, Goodwill said it has joined with the Red Cross on a voucher program. People affected by the fires can receive up to two $25 vouchers that can be exchanged at Goodwill locations for clothes, shoes and home goods. Goodwill has run similar programs in response to other natural disasters.
“We find it to be a practical, organized way to do it,” said Mr. McClenahan, who added that January is the busiest month for donations, because people make New Year’s resolutions to declutter their homes.
Mindful that unwearable clothes are donated with the best intentions, people who work at nonprofits are careful about discouraging or prohibiting certain items.
“We don’t want to deter folks from doing what they can to help people in need,” said Stephanie Fox, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, which is helping relief efforts in Southern California.
So if clothing is often not the most critical need after a natural disaster — certainly not in such abundance — then what is?
“Financial donations are the best and quickest way to help people,” Ms. Fox said.
Goodwill and the Salvation Army seconded that view.
“Financial contributions are the fastest and most effective way to support disaster relief,” Dale Bannon, a Salvation Army spokesman, said in a statement, “as they help meet urgent needs and support local businesses while ensuring 100 percent of designated funds go directly to relief efforts.”
A Goodwill spokesman encouraged those looking to help to donate money to its Emergency Wildfire Response Fund or its SoCal Wildfire Relief Program.
Pamela Paxton, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, said that people might prefer to donate books and household goods because it can feel more direct than giving money. Also, donating something already on hand allows people low on funds to make a contribution.
“Especially after disasters, people will think, ‘Well, everything is gone, so I can give anything,’” Ms. Paxton said. “Clothing is a fairly quick, easy and tangible way for people to feel like they’re helping.”
If charities receive mounds of clothes, it’s because people have mounds to give. From 2000 to 2014, clothing production worldwide doubled, and the number of garments purchased per capita increased by about 60 percent, according to a study on fast fashion by McKinsey. Many people discard these fast-fashion items after only seven wears.
Much of it ends up in a landfill or is given away. Goodwill said that it received 112 million donations in 2023, amounting to nearly 5.8 billion pounds of goods. A significant portion of those donations were textiles.
Kelly Broman-Fulks, the communications director for Boone United Methodist Church in North Carolina, said that in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, certain donated clothing items came in handy — especially coats and sweatshirts in good condition — but the church often had to turn away worn-out clothes.
“I do think it comes from a good place,” Ms. Broman-Fulks said. “I believe people are moved by what they see in the media — that feeling of loss.” Still, she said, “people who have lost their homes don’t have a closet to put a closetful of clothing in.”
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